In this S model it comes with dynamic engine mounts, which are soft when you’re going in a straight line but firm up quickly when you start pushing on.

It’s a trait, we’re told by engineers (and not just those from AMG), that is particularly useful, given that engines weigh a good few hundred kilos, and to rigidly mount them when you’re exiting a corner, accelerating or braking hugely assists a handling engineer’s job by reducing the loose masses they have to contain.

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Power goes to the rear wheels via what Mercedes calls its multi-clutch transmission (MCT), but don’t confuse it with a dual-clutch gearbox. It’s an automatic gearbox where wet clutches are in place of the torque converter; it makes for smoother shifts than a dual-clutch auto, albeit without the whipcrack response of their shift times.

As with nearly all new sports and executive cars, there are a bundle of drive modes for the powertrain and suspension.

Here, the latter is by standard-fit ‘ride control’, which you can consider to be adaptive adjustable dampers, with Comfort, Sport and Sport Plus settings for the dampers on the four-link front, multi-link rear set-up, both with widened tracks over a regular C-Class.